The IEEE 802.11ac standard is the upcoming next-generation wireless local area network (WLAN) amendment that is highly anticipated by the wireless industry. The 802.11ac amendment is designed to provide a significant increase in achievable data rates.
A new and important feature introduced into by the IEEE 802.11ac amendment is operation in channel-widths of 80 MHz, 160 MHz and 80+80 MHz. These channels are significantly wider than the current 20 or 40 MHz wide channels of IEEE 802.11n. Consequently, dynamic channel assignment schemes need to handle and optimize to the new wider channelizations of IEEE 802.11ac, yet account for the coexistence with legacy equipment that operates according to the 802.11n standard.